How often have we heard the right and Bush apologists criticise their opponents for being soft on terror?… First, we learn that Bin Laden was allowed to escape from Tora Bora, then soon after, many Taleban and AQ leaders were allowed to escape from Kunduz and be airlifted to Pakistan.
What is the likelyhood that the right wing will now accuse the Bush administration of being soft on terror and terrorist appeasers?
A secret military operation in early 2005 to capture senior al Qaeda members in Pakistan’s tribal areas was aborted at the last minute after top Bush administration officials decided it was too risky and could jeopardize relations with Pakistan, according to intelligence and military officials.
The target was a meeting of al Qaeda’s leaders that intelligence officials thought included Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden’s top deputy and the man believed to run the terrorist group’s operations.
But the mission was called off after Donald Rumsfeld, then the defense secretary, rejected a last-minute appeal by then-CIA chief Porter Goss, officials said.